Sunday Salon: What I'll read if I can stay awake long enough

I've had a rough couple of weeks reading-wise. I abandoned a couple books (which, however, is itself productive). Groucho Marx's Memoirs of a Mangy Lover, which I just reviewed yesterday, proved less than compelling. Before that was Wallace Shawn's Wish I Could Be There, which was interesting and very well-written, but a bit of a slog all the same (my review). Compounding this, I've been working a lot, reading very little, and falling asleep too soon after going to bed.

So, what I need is a good book or two. I've got two books set to go. One I actually started last night, but only just because of the aforementioned sleeping problem: Eric Lerner's Pinkerton's Secret, a detective novel set in the 1850's. So far so good, though I was shocked into near wakefulness last night by the author's injudicious use of the word "fuck," which really seemed to come out of nowhere. We shall see if this was an isolated instance or not.

Also at the ready is Eric Weiner's The Geography of Bliss, which I'm very interested in beginning. I read a snippet of it in a recent edition of The Week magazine. The snippet was about how happy people are in Iceland, and why they're so happy. I gather from what I've seen of the book that the author is profiling different places around the world and writing about the level of happiness to be found there and why that society succeeds or fails in the happiness area. I'm finding that I'm enjoying this sort of nonfiction--highly readable, easily informative--at least as much as I enjoy fiction these days.

Tags: The Sunday Salon

Comments

[Clare D]

That comment about Pinkerton's Secret made me laugh. What was that doing in there?

Yes, I agree about the non-fiction - some of these absorb me just as much as the fiction very often - and that one sounds particularly good.

[Doreen]

You are due a page-turner.

[tanabata]

Thanks for welcoming me to the Sunday Salon.
The Geography of Bliss sounds quite fun. Couldn't hurt knowing the best places to live. I'll have to check it out.